South-east Queenslanders might be cranking up the air-conditioners for one of the hottest February weeks on record, but Mount Isa road worker Christopher Petersen reckons those people are a "pack of sooks".

Mr Petersen, a traffic controller in the state's north-west, said he felt pretty comfortable this week, despite the severe to extreme heatwave.

It hit 42 degrees Celsius in Mount Isa yesterday and is forecast to hit that mark again today.

"It's great here ... I'm not even sweating, I think you're a pack of sooks if you're whinging about 36," Mr Petersen said.

"When it gets hot it's about 48 ... yeah, that's hot.

"We don't take our jumpers off til it's 36."

Meanwhile in Brisbane, first-year university students Rebecca Swift and Rose Robinson found a patch of shade as Brisbane reached an apparent temperature of 37.5C.

Ms Swift said she took refuge in unexpected places to escape the heat.

"I've been just chilling in the libraries between lectures," she said.